Bergamotte d'Automne

According to Johannes Bodaeus, XVII century historiographer, this is the Pirum Regium of the ancient Romans, brought there from Asia;  Curtius two centuries earlier attributed the name to the city of Bergamo in Italy.  If true, this is our oldest fruit variety and prototype of all the many pears called Bergamotte in France.  The oldest descriptions show the fruit as medium-sized and flattened.  Ours are decidedly conical, dark green covered with circles of thick russet.  The purported ancestor of Seckel and all its progeny, which do not stray far from the type in size, form and juiciness.  Its age notwithstanding, still a fruit worthy of a small home orchard of the connoisseur.  Harvest mid-late September, capable of ripening without cold storage but not long keeping.  On Betulaefolia.